Weight Lifting for Dummies

Two of my objectives this year are to try something hard and do something different.  To put those initiatives into action, my husband and I signed up for a strength development class in January at our local YMCA.  Over the course of twelve weeks, three times a week, we met in a class of six to ten led by a personal trainer, a rag tag group of varying ages and states of fitness.

For 45 minutes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, we lifted weights and worked our way through sets of exercises of increasing intensity.  Our trainer did not stay in front of the room barking out instructions.  To my initial horror, I could not just hide in the back row. She traveled around the room correcting our form and providing support.  In those first few weeks, she did not laugh once at my feeble efforts and pathetic selection of weights. But she encouraged my every attempt.

There was no competition there, a refreshing surprise. We all lifted different weights. We all had a different story, coming at it from another place.

And along the way, each training session, I felt myself getting a little bit stronger.  

About the ninth or tenth week, the trainer suddenly upped the ante, introducing a whole new circuit of strength-building measures. I tried to follow along. You have to be kidding.  This is way too hard. But I did what I could.  It was the hardest workout yet.  I glanced at the clock, the minute hand moved at a snail's pace.  Done.  

But when we returned two days later, the same workout faced us.  I dreaded it.  But this second time through, surprisingly, wasn't so bad.  It was not that the weights suddenly became lighter, but each time, I was getting stronger.  Same situation.  Different reaction.  Strength comes in layers.  Endurance develops in the process of just working through it, and at times, choosing to add a little more weight to my bar.

In our lives, we tend at all costs to avoid discomfort, inconvenience, and anything we can possibly label as suffering or affliction.  Yet sometimes that heavy weight in our days or on our path is not an obstacle at all, but meant to make us stronger.  How do we respond to it?

Seek the LORD and His strength.  Seek His Presence continually.  1 Chronicles 16. 11

Initially, I didn't notice much difference in my abilities.  But one day last week, I hauled out a carton of yogurt containers from the refrigerated section at Costco with one hand. "There is no way you could have done that before," my husband remarked.

Sometimes what we are faced with or going through is absolutely hard, hefty and massive.  But He is here already....and always. Because God does the heavy lifting. Not just in this moment to lend us a hand, but leading us through, every moment along the way.  Not throwing at it a cheery and cheesy phrase, "Come on, you can do it." But true strength comes in turning to Him. 

And I realized it is not just an exercise in lifting weights, but in strength development.  

For You equipped me with strength for the battle ....2 Samuel 22. 40  

What is God forming in me through this struggle? Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow with each repetition and new exercise. Not meant to defeat us, but to build us up for what is and what is to come.